Justin Bieber, Meryl Streep join campaign to lower ‘Bully’ rating

Justin Bieber and Meryl Streep have added their names to an online petition aimed at landing Harvey Weinsten’s new movie “Bully” a lower age rating.

The Motion Picture Association of America slapped the documentary with a R rating, which bans young children from seeing it without their parents, despite Weinstein arguing that “Bully” was essential viewing for kids in the fight to combat bullying among youths.

The decision angered many film fans and social campaigners, and Katy Butler, a high school student from Michigan, subsequently started a petition on Change.org backing Weinstein’s age-rating plea.

Butler, herself a former victim of bullying, told Fox411’s Pop Tarts column, “I can’t believe the MPAA is blocking American teenagers from seeing a movie that could literally save thousands of lives. The MPAA needs to give ‘Bully’ a PG-13 so the students being bullied and bullies themselves can see this film and schools can show it as well.

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“It’s awful. Everyone either gets bullied or is a bully. We need to change this, and showing this film is one way of doing that.”

Weinstein has already received backing from Lady Gaga and Johnny Depp, and now teen superstar Bieber and Oscar winner Streep have added their star support to the cause, while singer Demi Lovato and comedienne Ellen DeGeneres have also taken to Twitter.com to raise awareness about the petition.

The “Bully” campaign has since attracted almost 300,000 signatures, and Streep has even agreed to host a special screening of the film in New York next week.